Beginners in the Classroom: What the Changing Demographics ...

[Pages:36]BEGINNERS IN THE CLASSROOM

WHAT THE CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS OF TEACHING MEAN FOR SCHOOLS, STUDENTS, AND SOCIETY

BY SUSAN HEADDEN

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching 51 Vista Lane Stanford, California 94305 650-566-5100



BEGINNERS IN THE CLASSROOM

WHAT THE CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS OF TEACHING MEAN FOR SCHOOLS, STUDENTS, AND SOCIETY

BY SUSAN HEADDEN

"I don't know why everybody isn't talking about this. Everybody,

everywhere, is single-mindedly focused on the achievement gap, and nobody is spending any time talking about what potentially could be one of the biggest

underliers of why we have one."

?Gail McGee, Houston Independent School District

BEGINNERS IN THE CLASSROOM

PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHING is a profession in transition. Already the largest occupation in the United States, it is expanding faster than the nation's student population.Teachers of color are entering the profession at twice the rate of white teachers, reversing an exodus after civil rights victories opened many other doors to African Americans. And women are again entering the profession in greater numbers after years of bypassing the field for other opportunities.1

But what may be most signi cant--to students, schools, and the nation--is that teachers today are younger and markedly less experienced than a generation ago.2 Experts consider teachers with ve or fewer years of experience to be still learning their craft.3 By the end of the last decade, more than a quarter of the nation's 3.2 million teachers were in that category, compared to only about 17 percent in the late 1980s. Back then, the most common teacher in America was a 15-year veteran; two decades later, she was a rst-year neophyte.4 " e ow of new teachers," says Richard Ingersoll, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education who studies teacher trends, "has become a ood."5

Although the recent recession pushed back the tide somewhat, and has likely raised the level of experience, the sheer number of novices in public school teaching has serious nancial, structural, and educational consequences for public education--straining budgets, disrupting school cultures

and, most signi cantly, depressing student achievement. Yet there has been scant discussion of the phenomenon by education policymakers. "I don't know why everybody isn't talking about this," says Gail McGee, manager of new teacher induction for the Houston Independent School District. "It overwhelms me. Everybody, everywhere, is singlemindedly focused on the achievement gap, and nobody is spending any time talking about what potentially could be one of the biggest underliers of why we have one."6

is report explores the causes, conditions, and consequences of what may be a permanent shift towards a less-experienced profession. It examines escalating levels of teacher attrition in public schools, a major source of the beginning teacher challenge. And it points to promising solutions, especially teacher induction strategies that provide the sort of targeted training and intensive support that recognizes the rst years of teaching as the make-orbreak opportunities they are.

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BEGINNERS IN THE CLASSROOM

TALENT DRAIN

ere are several reasons for the in ux of beginners to America's classrooms. One is a higher demand for teachers prompted by reforms such as smaller class sizes, expansions in special education, and a greater emphasis on math and science instruction. But, mainly, so many classrooms are led by rookies because teacher turnover is at unprecedented levels; teachers simply are not sticking around. Although the recession slowed the exodus by prompting hiring freezes and layo s, the long-term trend has been clear: From 1988 to 2008, annual teacher attrition rose by 41 percent, and now nearly a third of teachers leave the profession within the rst three years of their careers. In many urban school systems, despite attempts to retain teachers through incentives such as higher salaries, the problem is even more severe, with more than half of all teachers routinely turning over within ve years.7

Of course, new teachers bring energy and fresh perspective to their schools, and students

clearly bene t when strong teachers replace weak ones. But studies show that teachers simply are not as e ective in their rst years in the classroom as they are with more experience. And there is evidence that the best beginning teachers make up a substantial proportion of the early leavers. In a 2013 study of teacher attrition in four large urban systems, TNTP, a teacher recruitment and training organization, found that nearly one-third of highly e ective teachers left within two years, and almost half left within ve.8 e result, writes the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF), is that "students are too often left with a passing parade of inexperienced teachers who leave before they become accomplished educators."9 Hardest hit are students in tough-tosta schools in low-income neighborhoods--the very students who are in greatest need of outstanding educators. Studies have found attrition in high-poverty schools to be 50 percent greater than it is in other schools.10

e statistics are hardly news to McGee, who is among the teachers and administrators charged

TEACHER EXPERIENCE LEVELS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION 1987-88 and 2007-08

Most common teacher had one year of experience 200,000

150,000

Most common teacher had 15 years of experience

1987-88 2007-08

100,000

Number of Teachers

50,000

0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 Years of Experience

SOURCE: Richard Ingersoll and Lisa Merrill, "Seven Trends: The Transformation of the Teaching Force"

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BEGINNERS IN THE CLASSROOM

with reversing damaging churn in Houston. "We cent of charter high school and middle school

have a 61 percent attrition rate ve years out. So teachers hired in 2007-08 left their classrooms

if you are a kid in any HISD school, what are the after a single year.13

chances you are going to get a new teacher?" Mc-

Gee asks. " e learning curve for new teachers is

steep, and for teachers who are alternatively certi- WHY THEY LEAVE

ed you can increase the slope some more. Why

aren't we talking about the fact that for three years For years, school reformers have been pushing

in a row you are going to get a new teacher? e for teacher performance pay on the grounds that

data says that you are almost to the point where greater compensation would encourage stronger

you can't make up for that." Research by Stanford teachers to stay in the profession. But it's increas-

University economist Eric Hanushek shows that ingly clear that it's not money, or a lack of it, that's

an ine ective teacher can cost a student as much causing most teachers to leave. Rather, the prima-

as six months of learning every year.11

ry driver of the exodus of early-career teachers is

Along with steep turnover in high-poverty a lack of administrative and professional support.

communities, researchers have found increased

e problem takes many forms, including the

rates of attrition in urban,

feeling of being isolated from

rural and low-performing It's not money, or lack colleagues, scant feedback on

schools and among special education teachers. Turnover is greater among secondary teachers than among elementary teachers, and teachers of

of it, that's causing most teachers to leave. The primary driver of the exodus

performance, poor professional development, and insuf-

cient emotional backing by administrators. Quite simply, teachers don't think the people

color leave at much higher rates than do white teachers.12

Teachers abandon charter schools at especially high rates--a problem of no small

of early career teachers is a lack of administrative and professional support.

they work for care about them or their e orts to improve.

A raft of research points to the problem. Early career teachers in North Carolina

consequence as charters play

reported in a 2011 study by

an expanding role in public education, especially New Teacher Center (NTC), a Santa Cruz-based

in urban districts. For a 2010 study of charter non-pro t that helps train new teachers, that too

school turnover in Wisconsin, Betheny Gross and few principals spend time in classrooms, support

Michael DeArmond of the Center for Reinvent- teachers in their dealings with parents, and do

ing Public Education (CRPE) tracked 956 newly other things large and small that buttress teacher

hired charter teachers and 19,695 new traditional morale.14

public school teachers from 1998 to 2006 and A survey of 4,000 teachers by the Research

found that charter teachers were 40 percent more Alliance for New York City Schools revealed lack

likely to leave their schools for another school and of support from administrators as a key factor in

52 percent more likely to leave the teaching pro- teachers' consideration of leaving their school.15

fession altogether than were teachers in district- And TNTP found in a 2012 study entitled " e

run schools. In Los Angeles, the nation's second Irreplaceables" that even outstanding teachers--

largest public school system, no less than 45 per- educators who annually generate the equivalent

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BEGINNERS IN THE CLASSROOM

of ve to six more months of learning than poor performers--often throw in the towel out of sheer neglect. Upwards of 75 percent of such teachers that TNTP surveyed in ve major urban school systems said they would have stayed if they hadn't so rarely been made to feel important.16 "We often overlook that schools are all about relationships, and relationships take work," says Candace Crawford, executive director of Teach Plus D.C.17

More recently, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching found that teachers' connectedness to their schools strongly in uenced their retention rates. e Foundation surveyed 580 early career teachers in the Baltimore City Public Schools as part of a partnership with the Austin, Texas school system to improve teacher induction and retention called Building a Teaching E ectiveness Network. e survey revealed that the 25 percent of teachers who felt most loyal to their schools and believed most strongly that their work contributed to their schools' successes had an 89 percent likelihood of staying in their schools the following year, compared to 53 percent for the quarter of teachers who felt least en-

gaged, least satis ed, and least con dent about their classroom contributions.18

Amanda Meyer, who taught English as a second language in a low-performing San Antonio, Texas, high school, is typical. A 2011 Teach for America recruit, she loved her work and planned to stick with it well beyond her two-year commitment to the program. But she craved guidance and support that she only rarely received. Her busy supervisor, a highly regarded administrator, had only enough time to give her a few model lessons, Meyer says. Her designated mentor spent only 40 minutes in her class over the course of two years, and an instructional coach never came, despite Meyer's requests. Meanwhile, Meyer's principal based his year-end evaluation on a single observation of Meyer he made back in January. She says: " e principal said, `Don't expect to hear from us if you are doing your job.'" After just two years, Meyer left teaching for a research position at the Carnegie Foundation.19

"Teachers never say they are leaving because of the kids," observes Jesse Solomon, executive

PERCENT ANNUAL FIRST-YEAR TEACHER ATTRITION

1988-89 to 2008-09

1988-89 1991-92 1994-95 2000-01 2004-05 2008-09

9.8 10.5 11.1 14.6 11.9 13.1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Percent

SOURCE: Richard Ingersoll and Lisa Merrill, "Seven Trends: The Transformation of the Teaching Force"

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CARNEGIE FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING

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